1997-08-31 04:00:00 PDT CALIFORNIA -- A growing racial gap between educators and students in California's public schools has spurred competition among districts to hire scarce minority candidates and sparked a debate over the importance of race in teaching.

More than 60 percent of the state's 5.5 million kindergarten through 12th-grade students were minorities as of last year, compared with 21 percent of teachers.

In 1990, 54 percent of students were minorities, compared with 18 percent of teachers.

School districts statewide are trying to bridge the disparity with programs that attract and recruit minorities, both out of high school and from mid-career, into teaching.

"Teachers and students are already separated by age and by economic background," said Pedro Noguera, a UC-Berkeley education professor and former Berkeley school board member. "Add to this equation race and culture, and what you come up with is teachers who are unable to effectively communicate with the kids they serve."

Between 1990 and 1996, as minority student enrollment surged in California's public schools, the proportion of minority educators barely budged, an Examiner study shows. The 39 percent gap between the percentage of minority students and teachers is about twice the national figure.

As 150,000 new kids pour into California schools every year, creating a need for an additional 35,000 teachers, the state Department of Education struggles to find qualified teachers - let alone qualified minority teachers.

More than 71 percent of candidates preparing to teach are white, according to the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

"highly unrealistic" for school districts to achieve a teaching corps that mirrors the racial cross-section of students.

"If you look at Oakland or other large districts and say the goal is to match the ethnicity of students and teachers, we're going to be in terrible shape," he said.

"And that policy just doesn't make sense.

"What we have to work hard at in California is taking the teachers we have now and better preparing them to teach in a racially diverse classroom."

Latinos, who make up half of the state's minority teachers, account for most of the increase among educators.

Today, they represent 10.6 percent of teachers, compared with 7.5 percent in 1990. Asian / Pacific Islanders increased to 4.7 percent from 4.2 percent, and Native Americans to 0.8 percent from 0.7 percent. During the same period, however, the percentage of black teachers declined to 5.1 percent from 5.6 percent.

The Examiner's analysis shows that 40 of 112 Bay Area school districts equal or exceed the statewide gap between the proportion of minority students and minority teachers.

In some districts, the gaps are more like chasms:

*The Bayshore School District in Daly City has a 92.8 percent minority enrollment compared to a 9.5 percent minority teaching staff - an 83.3 percent gap.

Twenty of the district's 22 teachers are tenured, said Superintendent Susan Larramendy.

"Tenure plays a big role here," she said. "Half of our teachers have been here 15 years. So when you have that kind of longevity, it makes it difficult to make sweeping changes."

More than 80 percent of California's teachers are tenured, according to the Education Department.

At the San Leandro Unified School District in San Leandro, 66.5 percent of students are minorities, compared with 13.4 percent of teachers.

The Sausalito Elementary School District in Marin County, with 248 students, has a minority student population of 83.5 percent and a minority teaching population of 19 percent - a 64.5 percent gap.

One of the district's top priorities is to hire more minority teachers, said Bill Redman, Sausalito Elementary's superintendent. But as school prepares to open, the two vacant teaching slots have been filled by whites.

"We are vigorously trying to recruit more African American teachers," he said, "but you have to recruit the teachers early on and offer very competitive salaries."

The culture of the classroom&lt;

In Oakland, where more than 93 percent of the 53,462 students are minorities, and 52 percent of teachers are nonwhite, race plays a critical and controversial role.

Last year, the district ignited a national debate by announcing plans to recognize ebonics, or black English, as the standard language of African American students.

"Many black children in Oakland speak black English. To understand it and where it comes from, teachers need to understand the black African culture," said Isaac Taggart, co-chair of the Coalition of Parents and Organizations for the Defense of African Children.

"A black teacher will better understand what black children in Oakland are going through," Taggart said.

"People of certain ethnic groups look out for the children of their own ethnic group."

Lucella Harrison, who is black, taught in Oakland Unified schools for 34 years. Now retired, she says if a teacher is qualified, race doesn't matter.

"Sure, it would be nice to have ethnic balance," Harrison said. "But it's more important to have good, adaptable teachers who realize that all students don't learn the same way"

In the Berkeley Unified School District, where 66 percent of students and 29 percent of teachers are minorities, parents have met with school officials to lobby for recruitment efforts.

"This year, the principal at Jefferson Elementary let it be known she wanted to hire a black male teacher for fifth grade," said Vikki Davis, a PTA member and parent of three young boys in Berkeley's public schools.

"I am raising three African American males, and I'm a single parent," Davis said. "I'm always looking for positive role models for my boys."

If she had the choice between an equally qualified white teacher or African American teacher, she would chose the black educator, she said, concluding that "because of cultural differences, blacks are better able to teach blacks."

Cathy Brown, whose children also are enrolled in Berkeley public schools, doesn't worry about race as much as gender.

"My daughters haven't had a male teacher in 10 years of schooling, but they've had enough minority teachers, so it was never an issue," said Brown, who is white.

San Francisco aims to improve&lt;

One of San Francisco Unified's main goals is to increase significantly the proportion of minority teachers within four years.

Last year, 87 percent of students and 43 percent of teachers were minorities. This year, the district hired 523 certificated teachers. More than 320 are minorities, a 2.4 percent increase.

Minnie Ward, a Bayview-Hunters Point resident with grandchildren in The City's public schools, complains whenever she visits a school and sees a lack of minority teachers.

"In our community, my grandkids see so many people of color," Ward said. "Then they go to school and see only white women as teachers. I think if they walked into a classroom and saw an African American teacher, they would say, "Oh no, you can't be a teacher; you're not white.' "

As the racial makeup of California students changes dramatically, "there is this political climate that passed Propositions 187 and 209 that has a problem talking about diversity," said Gary Hart, a former state senator and co-director of the Institute for Education Reform at Cal State Sacramento. "So the challenge of talking about having a diverse teaching force is that a significant portion of our population believes by focusing on diversity, that translates to a lack of interest in quality. That's misplaced, I resent it, but it's reality."

Despite the state's efforts at minority outreach, the proportion of nonwhite teachers continues to hover around 20 percent.

Educators said there were fewer black teachers in California today than at the beginning of the decade because teaching was viewed as underpaid and career opportunities for African Americans had expanded.

"The number of black teachers has declined because the blacks who are graduating from college are interested in pursuing careers that pay well," said Pedro Noguera.

"In the past, because of discrimination, the same thing that was true for women was true for blacks: Teaching was one job that was open to them."

Although the past may give little reason for optimism, Hart said, "we have developed effective internship programs that make it more attractive and easier for people to enter teaching. We are close to creating a statewide center that will serve as a clearinghouse of information for people who want to become teachers."

Tapping the mid-career market&lt;

Since 1992, California has funneled $7 million into internship programs aimed at mid-career professionals who were laid off or interested in a career change.

"We've looked at all the downsizing in the military, for example, where there is a sizable group of very qualified minorities," Hart said. "We say to these people that if you have a college degree, and you are able to pass a test showing you are subject-matter proficient, you can go into teacher training for 10 to 12 weeks, and then you begin teaching."

The Commission on Teacher Credentialing has awarded more than 600 college scholarships since 1995, mostly to Latinos and blacks.

Most of the candidates already were working as teachers' aides but lacked college degrees.

A bill introduced by state Sen. Leroy Greene, D-Sacramento, seeks to establish a California Center for Teacher Careers. It would be supported by the state, private foundations and California State University, operating with a budget of $1 million as early as next spring.

"What we don't have in California is a coordinated strategy to recruit teachers," said commission consultant Linda Bond. "This would set up a job bank, phone bank, and coordinate teacher-recruitment efforts targeted at diversity."

Efforts at diversity have sprung up across the state.

A San Francisco program, Summerbridge National, established in 1978, invites high school students interested in teaching to spend a summer in the classroom instructing middle school students. Sixty-five percent of the 850 teachers this summer were minorities.

The Multicultural Alliance in San Francisco pays part-time or full-time salaries to college juniors and seniors to work as teachers' aides. Since the alliance was founded in 1990, 95 percent of its 1,000 graduates from programs have chosen careers in teaching.

The Latino Teacher Project, founded in 1992 at USC, places minority college students in neighborhood schools to work as teachers' aides, giving them financial aid to pay for college.

"Efforts are being made to bring more minorities into teaching, but the competition to find qualified minority teachers is fierce," said Jim O'Laughlin, associate superintendent at New Haven Unified School District in Union City.

Of New Haven's 13,787 students, 76.2 percent are minority, compared with 27.3 percent of teachers.

"It's almost a losing battle to find enough minority teachers, especially in a district like ours," O'Laughlin said. "We want a group of teachers that reflects our student body, nut it's a monumental challenge when the teachers aren't out there. We end up stealing minority teachers from other districts. So as we benefit, another district loses."

Beginning this fall, New Haven, in partnership with Cal State Hayward, will operate a teacher education academy at James Logan High School in Union City. Of the 28 candidates, 80 percent are minorities, O'Laughlin said.

High school students will spend a semester working in classrooms, learning from veteran teachers. They will earn class credits, or through a more intensive training program, college credits.

"The only way we're going to solve the problem of the deficit of minority teachers is if every high school in the state has a course like this to recruit minorities into teaching," O'Laughlin said. "If we wait until someone is ready to graduate from college, it's too late." &lt;